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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Currently, there's a typo in a trending topic on Twitter, and it's doing my head in, though at least it won't be responsible for a plane tail-strike like the one that occurred at Melbourne Airport in Australia earlier this year.

The typo has just been discovered as the reason why the United Arab Emirates A340-541 Airbus had problems taking off, with a report claiming:

"During the reduced thrust takeoff, the aircraft's tail made contact with the runway surface, but the aircraft did not begin to climb. The captain commanded and selected take-off and go-around engine thrust and the aircraft commenced a climb. After jettisoning fuel to reduce the landing weight, the flight crew returned the aircraft to Melbourne for landing."

Apparently, the plane's first officer recorded the weight into the flight system as 262.9 tons, when in actual fact it was 362.9 ton. Quite a difference, you'll agree. While there were no injuries to the 257 passengers, 14 cabin crew and four flight crew, two of the crew resigned afterwards, presumably from the shame of watching the tail of the aircraft bounce against the runway three times. [ATSB report via Ieee Spectrum]

Art Lebedev calls this simple invention—a camera that takes images from the front of a truck to show it on screens in the back—Transparentius. I call it geeneeuzz.

I don't know why this drawing shows a tank at the front of the truck, but I guess that in Russia people drive T-90s like in the US people drive Fords. I wish the technology was so cheap that this could be implemented for real, because I'm sure it would save a lot of lives on the road. [Engadget]

Thursday, December 3, 2009

WASHINGTON � The National Geographic Society said on Thursday that it was shutting down the print edition of National Geographic Adventure magazine, an outdoors publication it started 10 years ago.

The Adventure brand will continue with a "robust website" and mobile and other products, the National Geographic Society said, but the December-January edition of National Geographic Adventure magazine will be the last.

"Given the current advertising environment and the opportunities we see in emerging digital platforms, we think the time is right to transition the Adventure brand," said John Griffin, the National Geographic Society's president of publishing.

Besides National Geographic Adventure, the National Geographic Society also publishes its flagship magazine National Geographic, National Geographic Traveler, National Geographic Kids and National Geographic Little Kids.

National Geographic said 17 staffers would be affected by the shutdown of the print edition of Adventure, which published eight issues a year.

Print advertising revenue has fallen sharply at US magazines and newspapers over the past year and a number of publications have closed down their doors, declared bankruptcy or carried out large-scale layoffs.

Conde Nast, which owns The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Vogue, recently shut down several magazines including Gourmet, Modern Bride, Elegant Bride and Cookie and Time Inc. ceased publication of Southern Accents.